Last day to borrow what you need

Today is our last open day before we close for the Christmas and New Year holidays.  The Library will reopen on 2 January 2012.

If there are materials you need for writing or research during the break, come in TODAY and borrow them!

Have a blessed Christmas and a New Year filled with joy and peace ...

Paula

Catalog maintenance tonight

Our Morton Library catalog will be offline tonight for scheduled maintenance (our monthly full backup).  You won't be able to access the catalog from 10 pm Friday until 6 am Saturday.

Thanks to our systems librarian, Leland Deeds, for postponing this work until it would have the least possible impact on our students preparing their final projects and papers for the Fall term.  He's doing this even though he has to leave at the crack of dawn Saturday morning to drive all the way to Arkansas!!  Also, thanks to Ann Knox, who is assisting him.

Both of these individuals do a huge amount of work for you "behind the scenes," to ensure that our Library systems function as well as possible. 

Paula

Wonderful news !

Our retired Library Director, Prof. John Boone Trotti, has been named recipient of the 2012 Award for Excellence in Theological Education by the Presbyterian Church (USA), to be recognized at the 2012 General Assembly in Pittsburgh.  He served as our Librarian 1968-2002.

See our NewsPage for further details!

Paula

The elusive ILL form has returned !

You can once again send your ILL requests to us by clicking on the ILL tab from within the catalog.  We are sorry for the inconvenience while this form has been down.  Lisa will be very happy if you begin using it again!

Ann

Annual closure is coming

Time to plan ahead!  If you will need to do writing or research during the holidays, be advised that the Library will be closed during the Christmas and New Year time period.  There are also some days with shortened hours while classes are not in session.

Please consult the details on our Hours page, and make your plans accordingly.

Paula

Christmas party today !

Please come this afternoon to our famous Christmas party at the Library!  The building looks beautiful, decorated for the holiday.  And the Library staff treats and goodies are second to none.

Drop by 3:15-4:15.  And have a merry Christmas!

Paula

Advent resource

Are you looking for a web-based resource which brings together study and liturgical materials based on the 3-year Revised Common Lectionary?  There is a wonderful website called "The Text This Week" - or "Text Week" for short - which offers resources for study, reflection, and liturgy to assist you in preaching and teaching.  The site is organized following the texts of the Revised Common Lectionary.  Each week includes a wealth of materials, including exegetical commentaries, children's sermons, artwork, movie clips, sample sermons, bulletin inserts, hymn selections, and more.  In addition to the organization of the RCL, users may also search by scripture index, theme, and even movie titles.  To access The Text This Week, simply visit their webpage www.textweek.com !

For a similar website which offers liturgy for Revised Common Lectionary texts, check out lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu

TJ Remaley, Circulation desk worker
2nd year MDiv/MACE

ATLAS milestone : 200 titles !

The ATLA Serials full-text digital collection has now reached 200 titles, according to the American Theological Library Association.  The work of digitizing new titles and adding older issues in full-text format goes on constantly, but this is a nice milestone in that process.

These five titles have just been added :

• Bulletin for Biblical Research, published by Eisenbrauns
• Fides et Historia, by the Conference on Faith and History, Calvin College
• Journal of Shi'a Islamic Studies, published on behalf of The Islamic College, London, United Kingdom
• Journal of Theological Interpretation, by Eisenbrauns
• Science et Esprit, by Facultés Collège dominicain de philosophie et de théologie d'Ottawa and Editions Bellarmin

Another ten, I'm told, are coming soon.  The ATLA strives for diversity in language, subject matter and faith perspectives in their selections.  It's a very strong collection -- and still improving.

Paula

Wet carpeting in the Library

Our Monday gremlins are at it again!  This time, we've had a water leak at one of the drinking fountains that created a big mess over the Thanksgiving weekend.  Water spread from the 3rd floor down through the building to the basement.  Fortunately, no books or other items in the collection were damaged.

The carpeting must be shampooed and dried with fans in several areas, so we have closed off the North elevator and hallways on all floors.  Please take care walking anywhere on the North end of the building, as there are some places where it's difficult to see the soaked carpet.  The carpet is quite slippery and uneven or rippled in certain spots.

We still have use of the South elevator (near the copy machines on the main level) and stairwells.

Paula

Server maintenance over the Thanksgiving holidays

We will be running the November full backups of our production server on Thursday, November 24, starting at 11 pm.  Our online catalog will be offline until early Friday morning.  All other services will work if you want to be doing research after your Thanksgiving feast!

UPDATE TO HOLIDAY CLOSING HOURS

After we posted the holiday hours on November 16, it was announced that the Seminary will be closing across campus at 4:00 pm on Wednesday, November 23.  Therefore, the Library will also be closing at 4:00 pm.  Our hours on Wednesday, November 23 will be 8:00 am - 4:00 pm.  All other holiday hours remain the same as those listed in the previous post.

Ann

Holiday hours

Please note our reduced holiday hours begin this week...

Fri, Nov. 18:  8:00am - 5:00pm
Sat, Nov. 19:  1:00 - 6:00pm
Sun, Nov. 20:  4:00 - 9:00pm

Mon, Nov. 21:  8:00am - 5:00pm
Tues, Nov. 22:  8:00am - 5:00pm
Wed, Nov. 23:  8:00am - 5:00pm
Thur-Sun, Nov. 24-27:   CLOSED for Thanksgiving


Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving season!

Rachel

iPreach is back !

We're happy to announce that our access to iPreach has been restored.  You ought to be able to get to it now from our Online Databases page,  just like before.

If you have any trouble reaching it, please contact me.

Many thanks to our wonderful Librarian for Academic Computing Support, Leland Deeds, and our Head of Technical Services, Irina Topping.  They sorted out the issues with our Cokesbury account and got it going again.

Paula

Why can't I get access to iPreach?

If you have tried to log in to iPreach recently, you have probably received this error message :

• Your subscription to iPreach has expired. Please contact your library network administrator for more information.

Unfortunately, it's true.  Our subscription has expired, and our IT department has tried to renew it.  But we are still waiting for Cokesbury to respond.  Their tech support for libraries is notoriously poor (are you reading this, Cokesbury?!).  All we can do now is wait for them to get their act together.

We sincerely apologize for this failure.  We are aware that many of our students use this resource and we do hope it won't be long before it's available again.

Paula

The vanishing ILL form page

The good news is that Union Presbyterian Seminary has a nice-looking new website design!  I'm sure it will be a big help in many ways.

The bad news is that they have erased our ILL form, again.  When you click on the "ILL Form" link in our Morton Library catalog, it takes you to the UPSem homepage instead of to the ILL form.

Because we cannot process form data, our ILL form does not reside on the Library's website.  It resides on the UPSem website.  And when major changes are made to that design, our ILL form gets lost in the shuffle.

We hope to get it restored as soon as possible!!  In the meantime, please email Lisa Janes directly with your ILL requests.  Sorry for this inconvenience!

Paula

Post-Reformation Digital Library

This valuable resource from the Meeter Center for Calvin Studies has recently been updated and improved.  It now has its own domain name, a new search interface, and twice as many authors and works included.

The PRDL "is a select database of digital books relating to the development of theology and philosophy during the Reformation and Post-Reformation/Early Modern Era (late 15th-18th c.). Late medieval and patristic works printed and referenced in the early modern era are also included."

The database functions as a unified, searchable collection of books in full-text digital form online, hosted by a variety of providers.  Downloadable PDFs are included, and a link to WorldCat appears with each cataloged work.

Take a look at this helpful resource!  http://www.prdl.org/

Paula

Library Computers

Several Library computers are not working this morning. We're working to have them restored as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.

Rachel

Still healing

The Reference Librarian is still recovering slowly from surgery.  I had planned to be back in the office today, but I am not feeling well enough yet.

Please do contact me by email with any research questions -- I will do my best to help you.  Use my office email address : pskreslet@upsem.edu

I hope to be back on Monday 24 Oct.  I apologize for my prolonged absence.

Paula

Yet Another Monday

The computers have lost their internet connection yet again. We continue to work on restoring them. Two computers are not functioning in the Reference room, but the others are available. Thank you for your patience as we wait for these to be repaired.

If you find a computer that is not able to connect to any website, please let us know!

Rachel

Reference Librarian out of the office -- but still available

Just want you to know that I am scheduled for another episode of foot surgery on Monday, October 10th.  I will be out of the office for several days, but I don't yet know exactly how long.

Although you won't be able to see me in person, please do feel free to contact me by email.  I will continue to read my office email every day, and I may be able to help you with research questions from afar.  Don't feel bad about asking for help!  If I can help you, I'll be glad to do it.

Use my office email : pskreslet@upsem.edu

Paula

Another Monday

We are sorry to report that we came in this morning to find all of the Library computers had lost their internet connectivity AGAIN, just like last Monday.  I guess they were partying too much over the weekend!

We have restored the machines, but if you find one that is not able to connect to any website, please let us know!

Paula

E-journals A-Z list offline

We're having problems right now with the electronic journals A-Z list.  Our access has been interrupted.  We apologize for this failure ... we hope it will be corrected soon!

Paula

UPDATE :  This service should be operational now.  If you have any trouble using it, please contact us!  On our library's home page, click on Electronic Journals A-Z list, under RESEARCH.

Server maintenance tonight

We will be running the September full backups of our production server tonight, starting at 11 pm.  Our catalog and some other services will be offline until early Saturday morning.

Thanks! 

Paula

Problems with internet access

We innocently came in to work on a Monday morning only to find that every computer in the building had failed internet access.  Groan!!

We scurried around and performed a fix that the Helpdesk told us about.  Each machine had to be disconnected and rebooted.  We believe they are all connected again ... but if you find a specific machine that cannot connect to the internet, please tell us.

Paula

Fall Semester Hours

Please note our new fall semester hours which begin this week...

Monday - Thursday:  8:00am - 10:00pm
Friday:  8:00am - 8:00pm
Saturday:  1:00pm - 6:00pm
Sunday:   4:00pm - 9:00pm


Welcome new students and returning students! Please ask if you need us. We're here to help.

Rachel

Special events this weekend

On Sept. 17-18, we begin our year-long celebration of Union Seminary's Bicentennial, with a host of special events.  On Saturday, there is our Convocation at Hampden-Sydney, where the Seminary was originally located.  Then, a cross-country bike ride to Richmond, to symbolize our move to a new campus in 1896.

On Sunday, fun activities are planned in the afternoon on the Quad ... square dancing, face painting, Nutsy the Squirrel, and lots of family games.  The bike-riders will arrive that afternoon.

Also on Sunday, the Library will be open in the afternoon, and Dr. William E. Thompson will be on hand to welcome visitors to our Bicentennial historical exhibit.  There are photo galleries and numerous displays of objects and documents from Union's past.

Come and participate in the Sunday fun!

Paula

A little noisy work today

Just letting you know that Maintenance will be working today on the HVAC system on the second floor, near the Graduate Seminar Room.  They will be making some noise that will be heard downstairs in the Reference Room.

If it bothers you, you might think about working in the Reserve Room instead ... or, be sure to bring your earbuds!

Paula

Holiday hours

Please plan accordingly for our holiday hours this weekend...

Monday - Friday:  8:00am - 5:00pm
Saturday - Monday:  Closed for the Labor Day Weekend

Enjoy your long weekend!


Rachel

New Video Streaming Collection Available

As part of our support of faculty teaching in the pastoral care areas this year, we have licensed a collection of more than 300 hours of digital media related to counseling.  The Counseling and Therapy in Video Collection (CTIV) will allow any student, staff or faculty member at UPSEM and BTSR to watch streaming videos from a computer (no mobile phone access), create clips to use in presentations, and share those links with others.

When you are on the UPSem campus, access to this collection will be automatic.  If you access this collection from home, you will get the EZProxy login page.  If you are a UPSEM user, your login should be your network login.  If you are a BTSR student or faculty member, you will have provided us with a login name and password that you want to use when you registered as a Library user.  If you intend to create and use your own clips, you will need to create a personal account on the site.

Video streaming can be used for hybrid and face to face courses.  While this collection is rather narrowly focused, we hope to be bringing other collections to you in the future.  Look for the CTIV icon on the News Bar of the Library home page, and on the Instructional Resource Center page.  Let us know what you think of this one!

Ann

Post-hurricane issues

Our electronic systems in the Library are mostly operating now, though we have lost access to our website a couple of times.  You may still run into some problems.  Please ask one of us here at the Library, or call us at 804-278-4310 and we'll try to help.

Paula

Catalog maintenance Friday night

Just want you to know that we’re going to run a full backup of the Library’s catalog tonight, 11 pm – 7 am tomorrow. We need to complete this task before the storm hits, in case there are power failures that cause data loss.

Because the Library will be closed anyway, we don’t think this will impact students working on ordination exams. The ATLA database and all other indexes, full-text e-journals and networked resources accessed remotely will all be unaffected – it will interrupt the Library catalog ONLY.

Of course, if there are power failures and the proxy server goes down, then students will lose access to the databases. But that won’t be caused by this maintenance work.

Paula

Fire alarm testing

Keith Fauber and the alarm technicians will be testing the Library’s fire alarm this morning. The loud noise should begin around 8:30.

Rachel

Emergency closing

A small earthquake was recorded in the Richmond area, and we have been told to close the Library in case of further shocks.

We expect to be open tomorrow as usual.

Paula

New journals added to ATLA Serials

The full-text portion of the ATLA Religion Database is constantly expanding, as they digitize more content and add titles.  ATLAS (ATLA Serials) has just added six new full-text periodicals :

• Bulletin for the Study of Religion, successor to Council of Societies for the Study of Religion Bulletin, by Equinox Publishing Ltd.

• Concordia Theological Quarterly, by Concordia Theological Seminary

• Conrad Grebel Review, by Conrad Grebel College

• International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, by Floraglades Foundation, Inc.

• Journal of Moravian History, by Moravian Archives and the Moravian Historical Society

• Missio Apostolica, by Lutheran Society for Missiology

You will be able to search their records and read their content online.  For more information on using the ATLA-RDB and ATLAS, please see our online tutorial.

Paula

Orientation time !

A warm welcome to the new students who are coming this week to the Library for Orientation !  A group of DMin students from BTSR will be starting this week, and new international students are arriving to begin their studies at Union.

We want you to feel welcome and comfortable in our lovely Library.  During our Orientation briefing and tour, we can give you only a quick overview of the resources and where things are.  But please do ask one of us in Reference or at the Circulation Desk for further help.

Paula

Six-word library comments

The University of Maryland library orientation program invites students to sum up in just six words what they learned or how they felt about their initial introduction to their Library.  We thought you might enjoy seeing some of these creative efforts :

• Not quite what I was expecting.
• Wish this article were full text.
• Contented quiet hours among beautiful books.
• What happened to the card catalog?
• Would pay for a researching robot.
• Every book I need is unavailable!
• Researching can be quite complicated.
• Must bend databases to my will!
• Citations can be difficult at times.
• Finally, I know how to cite!
• Good search terms, great search results.
• Confident about using the online resources.
• This old dog learned new tricks!
• Really, my school has a library?
• Still love to read paper books.
• In the Kindle version available yet?
• Libraries are excellent places for sleeping.
• Wish my library had a PS3.
• Never met a librarian I disliked.
• Every link leads to another link.

Pretty clever, aren't they?  Feel free to create your own six-word statement and leave it below in the Comments section.

Paula

Adapted from "I Came, I Saw, I Researched" by Robert Miller, in College and Research Libraries News, 72/6, June 2011, pp. 338-340.

Catalog maintenance TONIGHT

Tonight, July 26, our Systems Librarian, Leland Deeds, will be running our monthly catalog updates. During this period, 11:00pm - 6:00am, some services or functions of the catalog may be briefly interrupted.

Rachel

HVAC system fixed

Update : Our cool is back!  Come on in to the Library and read or study in comfort.

Paula

Reference Room

This summer the Circulation staff is working hard in several areas of the Library. One of the places we hope you will see a big difference is in the Reference room. We are re-labeling the call numbers on selected Reference books. So if you're unable to find a Reference book please ask the Circ staff for assistance.

Rachel

Halleluia!!!

It now appears as if our wonderful systems librarian, Leland Deeds, has managed to correct all misdirecting links so that searches done off-campus through our online catalog are now working.  We still have a little cleanup work to do with some individually subscribed e-journals, but most of what you need is now available to you from off-campus.

Thanks to Leland for his hard work, and to each of you for your patience!

Ann

Update on Library Services

We wanted to keep you updated about the loss of access that you are experiencing if you have tried to access us from off-campus.  Most of our recent problems have stemmed from a domain-name problem and having confirmed that this morning, we are fixing links as rapidly as we can!  As of 10:30 am, these issues have been addressed:

1.  The ILL form is functional again and can be used from the catalog search page, even though actual searches are not yet working.
2.  Off-campus access to our e-journals and databases has been renewed.  If you run into any problems trying to access these resources, please contact Leland Deeds at 278-4217 or ldeeds@upsem.edu.
3.  Searches on our OPAC are still not functioning, but we are working on that issue now and will let you know as soon as this problem has been fixed.

Thank you for your patience in all of this upheaval!!  We are working as hard as we can to restore full access to our Library services.

Ann

ILL Form Problems....Again!

Friends, we have recently discovered that our latest problems with off-campus access to our databases is also affecting our ILL form.
So, once again, please send your ILL requests directly to Lisa Janes at ill@upsem.edu.  We will let you know when the ILL form that links from our catalog is available again.
We apologize for having so many problems with this form this summe and hope to have this fixed soon.

Ann

A Little Progress....

Leland Deeds, our systems librarian, offers this update to the problem we began hearing about last week.

The links to the Library’s Online Catalog from the main Library site have been corrected, and are now functioning. The direct link to the Online Catalog is http://morton.upsem.edu:8991/F for those who wish to bookmark it.

The campus unfortunately continues to experience a domain-name related network problem that is impacting off-campus access to the EZProxy login and, therefore, all electronic resources. Our campus IT department and the campus’ outsourced network administrator are working to resolve the problem. Thank you for your patience and we apologize for this access outage.

Thanks, Leland....and we'll keep everyone updated as we know more.

Ann

Problems Logging into Library from Off Campus

We are getting reports that some people are having trouble logging into the Library catalog from off-campus.  It seems as if the problem is mainly happening when people are trying to access the Library webpage from Union Presbyterian Seminary's home page.

We do know work is being done on the Seminary's webpages now.  If you can bypass those pages, you should be able to enter the Library's site directly by entering http://library.upsem.edu/ in your browser.

Please help us pass this word along to others who may be having trouble!  Thank you.

Ann

WELCOME to our new Hebrew and Greek students !

We're happy to note that Hebrew and Greek classes have begun on the Richmond campus.  We offer a special welcome to those of you are newly enrolled, and a warm welcome back to returning students.

Please be aware that your Library is the ideal place for cool, quiet, comfortable study.  Come and memorize your paradigms here!  The Reference Room and Reserve Room are conducive to quiet study, and if you wish, you may use one of the individual carrels on the second floor.  There is a row of carrels kept unassigned and unlocked for anyone to use.  We only ask that you not leave any materials in the carrel when you are finished.

If you need any assistance, or information about the campus, ask one of our excellent student workers at the Circulation Desk.

Paula

Special hours for July 4th weekend

Please be aware that the Library will be closed for the Independence Day holiday on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, July 2-4.

Have a happy Fourth!

Paula

Maintenance on the e-journals A-Z list

Just letting you know that EBSCO is planning to take down our e-journals A-Z list for "urgent maintenance" this evening.  They expect it to be offline today, 22 June, 8:00-9:00 pm.

Let's hope that whatever their problem is, it will be corrected!

Paula

Last chance to see special Rare Books exhibit

Our current display of very special rare books, "Printed in Philadelphia : 1745-1845," will be extended for a little longer, until July 15.  We'd like to give our new students arriving for summer language school a chance to view this remarkable display.

After that, it will be taken down to prepare for the Bicentennial exhibit of photos and materials from the history of Union Seminary.  I think people will enjoy that display as well!

Paula

ILL Form Back in Service

The problem with our ILL form was discovered and fixed yesterday, and you may now begin using the link from our catalog to send your ILL requests to Lisa.

Thank you for your patience as we worked to resolve this issue.

Ann

Welcome ECP Students!

This week, June 13-17, we welcome our Extended Campus Program students. The Library will be open extended hours...

Monday - Friday   8:30am - 10:00pm
Saturday   1:00pm - 6:00pm


Welcome ECP!

Rachel

Problems with ILL Form

Our normal policy is to ask that our patrons who wish to make an ILL borrowing request do so using the form on the Library catalog home page.  However, we discovered yesterday that requests sent via the online form are not being received by Lisa Janes, our public services specialist who handles our ILL program.

We have reported the issue and will hopefully have it resolved soon.  In the meantime, please email your requests to ill@upsem.edu.  All email requests will need to include the information requested on the online form. 

Thanks for your patience.

Ann

Change to summer hours

Beginning today, May 31st, we are now operating on Summer Hours.  That means we open a bit later, at 8:30 AM instead of 8:00 (we always find a few people standing around outside in the morning for about the first week of the summer!).

We close earlier during the summer, Monday through Friday.  Also, we are closed on Sundays.  Naturally, with reduced user traffic, it doesn't make sense for us to staff our usual hours when the Seminary is out of session.

Please check the Library website for this information before you come see us!

Paula

HOLIDAY CLOSING

The Library will be CLOSED for the Memorial Day weekend :  Saturday, Sunday and Monday, 28-30 May.

We will be open on Friday, 27 May, till 8:00 pm.  Remember that you must complete all transactions, including borrowing books or other items, 15 minutes before closing.

We will be open again on Tuesday, 31 May, on Summer Hours schedule.

Paula

End of Sunday open hours

Now that the May term is reaching an end, we are going to discontinue our Sunday open hours.  There may be special cases this summer when we need to open -- for example, when ECP students are in town -- but for the most part we don't believe there will be sufficient need for these hours.

Frankly, we have been disappointed in the usage numbers since we reinstated Sunday hours.  Lots of people tell us they want the Library open on Sundays, but then they don't use it.  It's not good stewardship for us to pay two workers to staff an empty building.

So far as I know, no decision has yet been made on whether to try Sunday hours again in the Fall term.

Paula

Featured articles by our faculty, available online

You sometimes hear about new books published by our faculty members -- but in fact, they are bringing out articles in scholarly journals all the time.  We have created a new display to call attention to these articles and encourage you to access them through our e-journals.

On the table near the for-sale books (alongside the Circ Desk, where the paper cutter and staplers are), you'll find this week's featured periodical article, plus some information about how you can easily find it in digital form through our E-Journals A-Z List.  There are even some little cards you can take with you as a reminder.

Irina Topping, our cataloging supervisor, created this display.  She intends to promote different articles every week, and she is selecting our faculty authors in alphabetical order.  So come and see this week's articles by Sam Balentine and Brian Blount !  And learn to use the easy and convenient A-Z list !

Paula

Printing from the computers in the Ref Room

Well folks, our brilliant and amazingly determined Systems Librarian, Leland Deeds, has figured out how to get all six of the computers in the Reference Room to print using the document server in the Microforms Room.  So, you should be able to print articles from the research databases and such.

We apologize for the delay, which was caused by many factors truly beyond our control.

I will mention that we have had continued problems printing some files saved from a Mac to a flash drive.  The file often will not open on the Ref Room machines (both Word files and PDFs).  You can almost always print these, however, in the Computer Lab downstairs or in Watts Hall.

Paula

E-journals A-Z list maintenance

Just want you to know that the e-journals A-Z list to which we subscribe will be offline for most of the coming weekend.  They tell us it will be unavailable from 8 pm Friday till 1 pm Sunday.

However, you should still be able to access all of our full-text e-journals through the various indexing databases, such as ATLA-RDB / ATLAS and Academic Search Complete.  Our e-journals are NOT offline -- just the EBSCO utility that provides access to these titles through an alphabetical search interface.

Still confused?  You can email me any time (I often check my campus email at home).

Paula

Extended hours this weekend

This weekend the Library will be open for extended hours as students prepare for exams next week...

 Friday, April 29:   8:00am - 10:00pm

Saturday, April 30:  1:00pm - 8:00pm

Sunday, May 1:   4:00pm - 9:00pm


Also, don't forget the Library is open each Sunday through May 22.


Rachel

New ! Featured articles by our faculty, available online

You sometimes hear about new books published by our faculty members -- but in fact, they are bringing out articles in scholarly journals all the time.  We have created a new display to call attention to these articles and encourage you to access them through our e-journals.

On the table near the for-sale books (alongside the Circ Desk, where the paper cutter and staplers are), you'll find this week's featured periodical article, plus some information about how you can easily find it in digital form through our E-Journals A-Z List.  There are even some little cards you can take with you as a reminder.

Irina Topping, our cataloging supervisor, created this display.  She intends to promote a different article every week, and she is selecting our faculty authors in alphabetical order.  So come and see this week's article by Sam Adams in Journal for Preachers !  And learn to use the easy and convenient A-Z list !

Paula

Free Games !

We're weeding in the IRC over the next few weeks and the first items to go are games.  Granted, these are old, but you may find some use for them!  We're putting them out on the free table at the south end of the IRC (in front of the ILL office) and they are yours for the taking.

It's too hard to remove the security strips from these old kits, so if you take one, you may want to stop by the Circulation Desk and have the staff deactivate that.  If you forget and the alarm sounds when you try to leave, just show the circulation staff the "removed from collection" stamp that will be on the front of each game.

Printing issues in the Reference Room

The good news is that our new printer/copier has arrived!  The bad news is that they haven't installed it yet.  Meanwhile, the old one has resentfully given up printing documents through the network.  I have not been able to get it to print properly today, even from the older machines that used to be able to do this.

Please allow us a few more days to install the new machine and then for IT to work out the bugs of getting it to accept print commands from all six Ref Room computers.

Till then, please plan on printing downstairs in the Computer Lab, or in the Watts Hall lab.  Thanks!!

Paula

Stacks shift in the Reference Room

Okay people, we really were not intending to create panic when we started moving things in the Ref Room.  We are trying to make enough space to add two new commentary series that students have requested.

All of the books you need are still there -- they have just been squeezed closer together.  They are basically two sections to the left of where they were before, and then probably a little higher or lower on the shelves.

Please take note of the signs on the shelves that are there to help you ... such as the big one that says HEBREW LANGUAGE REFS HERE,  or perhaps BIBLE DICTIONARIES START HERE.  And if you don't see something you need, please ask.

Paula

PSCE historical display : "Preparing to Serve ... in a Christian Vocation"

We have now installed a display of special objects and mementoes from the worship, learning and common life of the General Assembly's Training School and the Presbyterian School of Christian Education.

Many of us remember events from the life of this remarkable institution very fondly. It's a pleasure to see hymnals from the Chapel, tableware from the dining hall, and other objects that bring back memories.

We have also selected some charming and fascinating photographs from the Archives and reproduced them for this exhibit. These images are meant to represent the many and varied gifts of ATS-PSCE students, and the variety of ministries into which they were called.

The title of the exhibit is taken from a publicity brochure about the school, printed in 1947. You'll see the cover of that brochure reproduced in the exhibit. Please join us in celebrating the outstanding professors and alums of this very special institution, and their many contributions to the life of the Church.

Paula

Commentary set available

We have moved one set of the Hermeneia Commentaries from the stacks to the Reference room. This set is temporarily located on a cart in the Reference room, on the right as you enter the room.

Also, we have ordered an additional Smith & Helwys Commentary set. Once this set arrives we will incorporate both sets in the Reference room shelves.


Rachel

Printer update

Well, much to my surprise, the networked printer/copier is working again. I take back some of the mean things I said about it.

Therefore, you should be able to print as usual from four of the six computers in the Ref Room.

When the printer/copier is replaced at the end of April, we should be able to connect all six machines to it through the network, so that you will be able to print from any computer in the Ref Room. That's the plan, anyway.

Paula

No printing

Oh great, now we can't print from any of the computers in the Reference Room!! Grrrr. The stupid worthless printer/copier networked to our machines is out of order, again.

The good news is that the printer/copier is scheduled to be replaced at the end of this month. So maybe we'll get a better machine!

Please bear with us until this problem is dealt with. I believe it's still possible to print documents in the Computer Lab downstairs.

Paula

Book Talk tonight

The Book Talk with Bill Sweetser takes place tonight, April 5, at 7:00pm in the Reserve Reading Room. In honor of the Bicentennial, Visiting Professor of Church History, Charlotte Campus, Bill Sweetser, is writing A Copious Fountain: Union Presbyterian Seminary, 1812 - 2012.

The Reserve Reading Room has been reconfigured for tonight, but you can still access Reserve books. Please let the Circ staff if you need help finding a Reserve book.

Rachel

Printing from the new computers

Two new computers have been added in the Reference Room, to your right as you come in through the main entrance.

For the time being, these two new computers will not have printing capability. We have decided not to add them to the networked printer/copier in the Microforms Room, because that machine is scheduled to be replaced at the end of April.

So please bear with us for a few weeks until a new printer/copier can be installed. In the meantime, all of the other computers in the Reference Room should still be printing as usual.

Paula

Electronic journals A-Z list

On Friday, April 1st (and this is no joke), the Electronic Journals A-Z List will be offline for maintenance. All of the journals will still be accessible through the databases which index them ... it's just the list utility that will be unavailable.

Here is the link : http://atoz.ebsco.com/Titles.asp?id=12032&sid=226431087&lang=en

We are told that they intend to have this resource down for one day only.

Paula

Electronic journals A-Z list

On Friday, April 1st (and this is no joke), the Electronic Journals A-Z List will be offline for maintenance. All of the journals will still be accessible through the databases which index them ... it's just the list utility that will be unavailable.

Here is the link : http://atoz.ebsco.com/Titles.asp?id=12032&sid=226431087&lang=en

We are told that they intend to have this resource down for one day only.

Paula

New computers available

Four new computers have been installed four your use. Two are in the Reference Room on the right side as you come in through the primary entrance. Two more are now on the wooden podium in the center of the Atrium.

The Atrium machines are mainly for quick checking of the catalog or databases, so they have no special research software installed.

The two new Reference Room machines have access to BibleWorks 7.0 and the current MS Office suite, including Word. They also have Firefox as an alternate browser. The one thing they do NOT yet have is a connection to the networked printer/copier in the Microforms Room. Our IT staff have been working on this and we hope it will be ready as soon as possible.

Paula

Come for the special Rare Books Tour!

Tour of the Rare Book Collection of the Morton Library
March 23th (Wednesday), 2 pm.

Come and discover some of the most treasured books in the Morton Library! Our collection includes many items across time and geography that constitute the roots of biblical study and church history. You will be able to see up close the Great Bible of 1541, unique lifetime editions of John Calvin, gems of the 19th century Sunday school collection, and much more!

Ted Winter, Librarian for Special Collections, will be giving the tour in the Rare Book Reading Room of the Morton Library. Space is limited to 10 people only! To register, please e-mail
Irina Topping at itopping@upsem.edu.

Do not miss this exciting opportunity!

PSCE keepsakes display

In preparation for our Bicentennial, and for the Centennial of the founding of ATS/PSCE in 2014, we have moved one of our display cases into the Atrium near the front entrance. Some charming bits of memorabilia from the history of ATS/PSCE can be seen there.

The General Assembly of the PCUS acted to establish the Assembly's Training School in 1914, under the leadership of Walter W. Lingle, Professor of Missions, and Walter W. Moore, President of Union Theological Seminary. In 1959, the institution's name was changed to the Presbyterian School of Christian Education. It offered a complete residential program with shared meals, worship and full-time study on the beautiful campus on the west side of Brook Road.

For 82 years, ATS/PSCE provided women and men with a suitable learning environment and course of study to prepare them to serve the Church and the world as lay workers, educators and missionaries.

A history of ATS/PSCE called The First Seventy Years was written by Louise McComb in 1984. You'll find it in our collection : TX 69 X M129. I recommend it! And please stop by the display case to enjoy some of the objects from the school's rich past.

Paula

Sorry to interrupt you ...

Often when people come to the Reference Desk to ask a question, they apologize first for interrupting me. I hope I don't look that forbidding! Yes, I'm always doing something, but it can be something pretty boring, such as website use statistics. I'm happy to be interrupted while doing that kind of chore!

Please do come to the Ref Desk and ask. Sometimes, I won't be able to answer your question, though I'll give it my best effort. But very often, the problem that is obstructing your progress can be easily cleared up. It may be just an inefficient search technique, or using the wrong resource or index and getting unsatisfactory results. Or, you may have a vague research idea that becomes clearer if you can talk to somebody about it.

Don't hold back. Come to me if I'm here, or ask for help at the Circ Desk if I'm not. We'll do our best to help you.

Paula

Early American Imprints online

We are now able to offer access to the online edition of Early American Imprints, Series I. Evans (1639-1800), AND to Series II. Shaw-Shoemaker (1801-1814).

This resource includes the complete text of works cited in Charles Evans’ American Bibliography, as augmented by Roger Bristol's Supplement to Evans' American Bibliography, and the American Bibliography by Ralph R. Shaw and Richard H. Shoemaker.

This searchable online collection provides the comprehensive set of books, pamphlets, broadsides, sermons, songs and many other documents published in colonial America and the early United States, and has long served as the definitive resource for research involving early American history, literature, religion, philosophy, and more.

Access to primary sources is always a challenge for scholars working with rare texts, locked up in archives and special collections in many cities and institutions. Here is a way to have a look at scans of the actual pages of thousands of these texts, and you have the option of downloading or printing PDF or TIFF files of the scanned pages. A very easy and effective search interface is provided. Sample the power of this amazing resource, and we guarantee you will find yourself wanting to spend hours poring over these exceptional texts.

To access this recourse online, please go to our Online Databases page, and choose Early American Imprints. Use your network user ID and password.

Paula

Interested in e-books?

We are wondering whether there is much desire among our Library users for access to e-books (complete monograph titles in digital form). If we began collecting them, would you want to use them?

What factors would influence your decision? Perhaps you'd like our available e-books to be accessible through the Morton Library catalog, so you would find them included in any search along with print and media titles. You might want them to be usable on any Mac or PC, not on a specific reader device such as a Kindle or Nook. Probably, you'd like access to be free. Maybe it's important for you to be able to print or download portions of the text you're reading.

If you have an opinion about this, we'd like to hear from you. Comment here, send us an email, come by and talk to us about it -- we are interested in your views.

Paula

Celebrate Black History Month at the Library

February is Black History month and we have several displays to highlight the celebration and education of Black History.

*In our children's section (2nd floor East) as well as within our "new books" shelves (near the Circ desk), we have featured children's books relating to Black History.

*We also have highlighted Black History related books (located throughout the Library) on our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/William-Smith-Morton-Library-Circ-Desk-Workers/120716471319765).

*Be sure to check out the SM section (2nd West) for more books.

*Also, there is a display in the glass display cases near the entrance of the Library which features African American traditions.


Circulation Staff

A sad time in the Library

All of us here in the Morton Library are grieving with our dear friend and colleague Fran Eagan, on the death of her husband Jesse.

Fran is the administrative assistant of our Library Director, Dr. Coalter, and also office manager for the Library. She is a wonderful person and has served the Seminary in an exemplary manner for many years.

Please join with us in prayers for Fran and her family at this difficult time.

Paula

Catalog maintenance

We intend to run some index updates tonight on the Morton Library catalog. There may be a few hours when the catalog is unavailable.

Leland plans to run the updates after midnight, so disruption to research use should be minimal.

Paula

New computer workstations

Thanks to our Systems Librarian, Leland Deeds, we now have two new computers available for research. These two computer workstations are located to the right as you enter the Reference room. Leland is working to install various software. Thank you, Leland!


Rachel

Discontinuing our Sunday hours

Friends, during the January term, Morton Library maintained its Sunday hours from 4 to 9 p.m. However, because we have found that usage of the library during Sunday hours was low during the 2010 Fall semester, the library will be closed on Sundays during the spring semester.

The one exception to this rule will be Sunday, May 1, when the library will be open from 4 to 9 p.m. in order to allow students more library access as they complete final semester projects and/or study for exams on May 3 and 4.

Joe Coalter
Library Director
Morton Library
Union Presbyterian Seminary

Elevator Repairs

The elevator on the North end of the building (outside of the Reading Reserve room) has been severely damaged. The repair parts have arrived and the elevator will be repaired today and tomorrow.

If you need to use the elevator please use the one on the South end of the building, next to the photocopiers.


Rachel

UPDATE : The North elevator is now repaired and ready to use.

More about the King James Bible

We have added something to the display in the Library Atrium. It's a handsome facsimile of the first roman-alphabet edition of the King James Bible of 1611.

Oxford University Press has brought out this accurate reproduction especially for the 400th Anniversary or Quatercentennial of the King James, possibly the most influential work of English literature ever published.

Because this is a replica, you may feel free to touch it, turn the pages, read selected passages, and look at the way the printing was designed. The entire Bible plus Apocrypha is included.

Paula

400th Anniversary of the King James Bible

In 1611, the first edition of a new translation of the Bible was published -- the one that later came to be known as the King James Version or the Authorized Version.

The Library owns two leaves of the very first printing of this historic work, the "editio princeps." These pages are now on display in the flat glass case near the Circulation Desk.

The King James Bible was first printed in a large folio format suitable for the pulpit, then in a smaller quarto format intended for individual reading and study. The Library also owns two of these very early printings : a 1613 Bible made by Robert Barker, the King's Printer, and a 1625 Bible created by his partners and competitors, Norton and Bill.

Come and see these remarkable and historic works, and read the interpretive text provided with them.

Paula

Do you have an Apple iPad?

While rewriting our Library websites in CSS layout, I have been testing the pages carefully on Macs and PCs using several different browsers, to make sure that they function reasonably well in those formats. I'd also like to see how well the pages work on mobile devices.

I'm looking for someone on campus who owns an iPad, and would be willing to show it to me some time. It would only take a few minutes to check some particular pages that may have display issues.

If you have an iPad, would you be kind enough to get in touch with me? Please help!

pskreslet@upsem.edu

Paula

Catalog maintenance Sunday night

January's monthly full-server backup of our Morton Library catalog is planned for Sunday night, Jan 16th. The catalog should be unavailable from about 11 pm till about 7 am on Monday morning.

Again, many thanks to our wonderful systems librarian, Leland Deeds, for planning this service interruption for a time when it is likely to cause minimal inconvenience to our users.

Paula

We're Looking Good....

Our indefatigable webmaster (and reference librarian) Paula Skreslet has just finished giving new life to the Instructional Resource Center website. We're thrilled with the way our page looks and hope it will help you immediately visualize the resources - both human and not-so-human - that you can find here. You can quickly find resources related to ILL borrowing, get to the blogs that we maintain, check information on the fantastic audio collections of Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich, or browse our curriculum publishers links. We hope you'll visit us on the web, and stop by and tell Paula thanks for her hard work on our behalf!

Today we welcome a guest blogger and BTSR student, Lindsey McClintock.


Morton Library is quite simply amazing and one of the additional perks of being a student at BTSR. The architecture of the building makes it most conducive for study, research, and paper writing. The resources available through the on-site holdings and electronic databases are extensive. Not only have I found a quiet solace within its walls and almost every resource needed in my research work as a student, but have saved money through finding many of my textbooks on the shelves of this wonderful library.

As an ordained minister working in a local congregation, I also find the resources of the Library invaluable in teaching and preaching preparation. Morton Library is truly an asset to the students and ministers of the Richmond area!

Lindsey McClintock
BTSR M.Div. '10, M.A. '11

Weather problems Tuesday

We have received no notice about delays or closings today. So as far as we know, the Library will open on time, and classes will take place as scheduled.

If we are told of any changes, we will post them here.

Paula

Why aren't you people writing any blog posts?

Busted! Yes, we have been negligent this week. When we first come back in January, a great mountain of mail, email, phone messages, personal pleas for help, etc. greets us. Rachel, Ann and I have been pretty swamped this week.

Welcome back, everyone, after our Christmas holiday! Our Library continues to provide you with massive resources for research, writing, study and individual edification. Please let us help you take advantage of everything we have to offer.

Paula